Case Study

Working With Dell: Localization of Catalogues for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets

Dell is one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers and IT services company, employing more than 100,000 people worldwide. The US company reported a revenue of US $56.9 billion in 2012 and has 5.4 million customer interactions every day. It also has active relationships with 99% of Fortune 500 companies.

Beginnings of a Partnership

GraphicPeople’s first steps to becoming the region’s leading outsourcing hub began with Dell as one of its first clients. For the past 10 years this partnership has sustained to break new grounds in simultaneous activation of marketing collaterals and complex, high-volume adaptations of Dell’s global communications. Initially working with the IT giant’s European audience, GraphicPeople’s expertise quickly earned Dell’s stamp of approval and soon the Asia Pacific-Japan and North American markets were also added to the studio’s portfolio. As of April 2014, GraphicPeople has produced more than 400,000 production units for its Dell account alone, with a team of 62 dedicated professionals in its Offline Production and Services unit. Localization and simultaneous activation of catalogues across different markets is a regular high-volume production job for GraphicPeople’s Dell account. The following is an example of catalogue localization for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets that is done at GraphicPeople’s Dhaka studio every month.

Work Cut Out

Regular monthly production for Dell: Localization and simultaneous activation of 24-page Dell business catalogues for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets, across 12 countries in 14 languages.

Delivering to Dell: The Challenge

Tools/Software in Practice
– Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
– Microsoft Word and Excel
– BrandShareDell’s global marketing footprint and reach is enormous by any measure. Delivering high volume productions for one of the world’s largest IT companies is no easy task and one of the major challenges GraphicPeople faces on a regular basis is overcoming a coordination behemoth: ensuring consistency across multiple parameters during the localization process into 14 languages and simultaneous launch in 12 countries.

“A slip in coordination and consistency can become a nightmare,” confides Masudur Rahman Siddiqui, Director of the studio’s Offline Production and Services unit. “For example, if we need to accommodate a small design change for a catalogue in Spanish, then we must ensure consistency in the catalogues for all the rest of the 13 languages. It’s critical to keep the same look and feel across all versions so that everything is aligned as closely as possible to the regional master template.”

Given the speed with which companies like Dell need to execute product communications, an equally challenging aspect of delivery is keeping the vital time-to-market window in sight.

How GraphicPeople Helped

Benefits Delivered
– Centralized production hub increases productivity, resulting in shorter turnaround time, cost savings and improved centralized QC.
– Production process starts 660 man-hours ahead due to round-the-clock operations and time zone advantage.
– Process automation improves marketing advantage further allowing last-minute product price and specification updates.GraphicPeople can take these challenges head on by acting as a centralized hub of operations with cutting-edge production technology which combines customized workflows and automation platforms to simplify the localization process.

For this particular localization project a dedicated 22-member Dell team works in two shifts for six days to deliver a seamless product in 14 languages. Centralized operations help to ensure consistency across all versions of the catalogue, quick response to feedback, and consistency in quality control.

Dual work shifts help to manage the tight deadline and reduce Dell’s time to market. Integrated workflow tools help automate many tasks involving inputs by multiple external project managers and AdPeople staff across time zones, making latest updates simultaneously available to all. Last minute product pricing and specification changes can also be achieved through only a click.

Results Delivered

Backed up by infrastructure, expert knowledge and a passion to deliver on quality, GraphicPeople produces 336 production units in 14 languages for localization of Dell’s business catalogues every month. These 24-page catalogues featuring Dell’s latest product offers have an estimated distribution of several million copies across its target markets. Operating from Dhaka, Bangladesh, the studio’s 24-hour operations and time zone management helps production to be 660 man-hours ahead of European office hours thus giving Dell an ‘early bird’ advantage. “Successfully delivering this large and complex project every month further strengthens the GraphicPeople-Dell relationship built over the last 10 years” says Imtiaz Ilahi, Managing Director of GraphicPeople. “We indeed feel privileged that Dell continues to trust us with some of its largest global activation projects.”

Partnerships of Productivity

Dell continues to be one of GraphicPeople’s most valuable clients and each successful project inspires the studio’s team to contribute in more ways to Dell’s global communications. GraphicPeople and Dell have gone on to work on localization and adaptation of all marketing communications materials, including newspaper advertisements, posters, post cards and direct mailers across Dell’s global market in more than 70 languages.